Chapter 14 – The Thief
It was a cold breeze that woke Nathan up, moments before he had been numb to the world but it had all changed in an instant when he suddenly woke up to the cold chill that blew over his body. Snapping awake with ease thanks to the cold Nathan looked around the place, bearing witness to a now much darker desert with the sun out of sight and the temperature quickly plummeting.
"Guys?" Nathan asked aloud as he got to his feet, putting on his coat he had awoken to find himself resting upon. Between his placement on his coat and the blanket that had been folded to make a makeshift pillow it was clear that there had been some care in putting him in the situation.
"Nathan? Are you awake?" A familiar voice asked him, pulling his attention over to his other side to the reveal of Wendy and Levy sitting on a blanket with a fire before them.
"Completely," Nathan answered as he made his way over, suppressing a shiver from the lack of heat his scares clothing provided. "How long have I been out?" He asked as he sat beside the girls.
"A few hours, but it's not like you wasted any time, we were planning of setting up camp here anyways." Levy quickly answered, "We figured it would be safe enough since we wiped out the molduga nest here there aren't going to be any more nearby and the bandits are long gone. But we should still have someone on night watch just be safe."
"I just slept some so I can take it." Nathan quickly suggested.
"Frankly, you still rest more than any of us still, I don't think you have much strength left in you still." Carla immediately countered making sure that the suggestion was shut down.
"I can take it instead," Wendy said, raising a small hand as if it was necessary for her to be spotted.
"You should rest as well for most of it, you're both still growing and so you shouldn't be pushing yourselves like that," Levy said turning down Wendy's offer as well. "If me and Lily keep switching then it shouldn't be too much effort for us."
"You know I won't be able to sleep much anyways from my previous rest, you could at least let me sit first watch. It's not like it'll take energy and furthermore, I've got the best vision out of everyone here, if anyone's gonna spot something it will be me." Nathan argued, pushing his point getting looks from Levy and Wendy.
"He does have a point, surely there's nothing wrong with letting him just take the earliest watch. As long as he gets the majority of the night to rest then he should be fine." Lily pointed out, being the first to take sides with Nathan.
"I assure you, no matter what I won't be able to sleep anytime soon at this rate," Nathan repeated, making sure that the statement of him needing rest went obsolete. It was only after a few moments did anyone then make a response to the situation.
"Alright, but only the first shift. Then you're sleeping the rest of the night." Levy said, conceding to Nathan and Lily. "I'll make sure to relieve you when your time is up ok?"
"Right." Nathan nonchalantly agreed whilst Wendy and Carla watched the agreement with slight uncertainty for differentiating reasons but still remained quiet, allowing the agreement to pass.
"Now we just need to worry about eating before going to sleep," Lily mentioned moving the situation along.
"You can mostly share it between yourselves, as long as I've got some light I can eat that instead," Nathan mentioned.
"But it's quickly turning night! What light is there for you to eat now?" Carla pointed out his shortsightedness.
"There's the fire, and while moonlight is faint it's still light. It's why everything doesn't go pitch black." Nathan pointed out quickly.
"You can eat fire?!" Wendy exclaimed, believing such things would be possible to only the likes of Natsu.
"No, I'd get burned if I tried. I can however eat the light it produces which leaves… interesting results." Nathan answered as he looked at the fire before them. "But it would mean that we would have no more light to work with from it ever again unless you lit a new one."
"So you can take away the property to produce light by eating it?" Levy asked, intrigued by the unique effects that Nathan seemingly possessed.
"Not really… maybe it better to think of it like a fire takes time to recover its light? It needs to recharge if it can last long enough? It depends." Nathan tried describing before giving up.
"Well if you eat the fire's light now, we can light another one in no time with my magic. Could you show us? Please?" Levy asked, hoping that Nathan would be willing to demonstrate for her.
"Well, it's a free meal," Nathan said as he looked at the fire before starting to eat its light. Opening his mouth wide the light of the fire which originally danced around the place immediately started unnatural behaviour as it rushed towards Nathan's mouth as he inhaled, slowly draining the colour from the fire until it was a dark tinted yet see-through flame that was barely visible. Even so it still very much produced heat and the crackling sound of the wood proving it was still burning.
"Whoa…" Levy and Wendy gazed in awe at the strange new appearance of the fire whilst Lily simply gave an improving nod.
"It's certainly unusual now," Carla noted as she tried to get her head around the concept that that sat right before her with a tilt of her head.
"It'll take a while for it to start producing light again so you should just light a new one." Nathan pointed out as he looked to the sky wondering if he should continue eating now. The fire was something but it was still something he would label as a snack more than anything else, not likely eating moonlight was either fast or filling either but at least there was plenty of it.
"It's kinda pretty like this," Wendy mentioned with the slight inclination to touch it, having to remind herself it was still fully capable of burning her.
"It's a shame but we would be better with the light, and once we're done eating then Nathan can take first shift then," Levy said as she lifted her hand into the air readying to cast another spell to renew the fire's light
Just after she finished her spell, effectively relighting the fire did the team then eat the rations that they had packed with them with Nathan opting to try and make a meal of the remaining light of dusk and even Wendy eating some of the air to help save on their food.
The moment they were done eating they had immediate went to sleep, using the blanket that Wendy had used to make a pillow for Nathan to cover them as they slept on the other blanket. With the rest of the team now asleep, leaving Nathan awake on his own to take the first and only nightshift he would have did he put on the coat he had brought with him as sat down, remaining on the lookout for the unlikely anything that could be around.
Thankfully staying awake wasn't much of a task for him, not only because he had so recently slept alright but also it was from the cold winds that quickly invaded the desert. In no time at all the temperature plummeted that even with his coat on Nathan still easily felt the cold, helping him stay awake with ease.
'But can they sleep?' Nathan wondered as he cast a glance back to his sleeping teammates. On first glance, they seemed to be doing reasonably well but it wasn't hard for him to notice their sleeping posture. Each of them was sleeping in a somewhat tensed way, making use of whatever heat which was near them, including one another as they reacted to each other's presences.
Clearly, despite having the fire still burning not all too far from them they were still feeling the cold, fresh air that mostly surrounded them. If he could do something for them, he would have but there was nothing he really could do for them. He didn't know any form of heat magic and moving them even closer to the fire risked them burning themselves, especially if they moved too much.
With a heavy sigh, Nathan looked away from the sleeping group and back out to the desert. He was completely fine with night watch and he could stay closer to the fire while he was awake but it didn't mean it was any entertaining. Just staring out at the desert, knowing that nothing was going to happen or appear but still doing so for even the slightest risk that it could harbour otherwise.
It was when he turned his glance to the quicksand pits that were not just a little off in the distance did he notice something. At first, he didn't completely register it out, either not quite noticing or not believing there would be anything out here but its movements were distinctive. Not only was there some moving figure before him but the sky was lit as if it was the middle of the day despite it being the start of the night only moments before.
In disbelief, Nathan stood up and closely peered at the shadowy figure by the quicksand pits, and what he watched gave him even more disbelief. It wasn't some animal, it was very much human, but instead of coming towards the group or anything else it just stood there, gave a single look at Nathan and then jumped into the quicksand willingly allowing it to consume him.
Nathan had to rub his eyes at the sight, wondering if he actually was incredibly tired and was seeing things upon seeing the random suicidal figure but when he opened them he saw something completely different. He was no longer at the camp, he wasn't even in the desert in the slightest, and instead, he was standing at an underground lake.
There was only one thing that he immediately picked up on, and the was the glowing green light that could be spotted emanating from the centre of the lake which completely drew in his attention. With his suspicions rising he looked right at the source of the light only to have his suspicions confirmed.
At the heart of the lakebed was a time gear.
There was something else which he noticed in the corner of his eye, in fact, there were multiple things laying on the lakes shore but he never got the chance to investigate as the image of the underground lake began to blur before it vanished altogether, leaving Nathan staring at nothing but the black abyss…
"Nathan? Are you awake?" Levy asked as she kept nudging Nathan, trying to get any response from him. She herself had only awoken a few moments before, ready to take her shift of the night watch and had gone straight to Nathan to relieve him only to find him blankly staring out at the desert as if in a trance.
"Huh, what?" Nathan said as he snapped back into being, standing up in response to being shaken. Looking around the place to see where he was, Nathan quickly realized that he was back at the camp, in the desert, not even a step away from where he was sitting before.
Quickly looking down at his pendant Nathan saw the last remaining light of his pendant fade away, showing that it was very much active only moments before. 'Then that all must have been a vision…' He thought to himself as he let his gaze wander over to the quicksand again, the sky still pitch black with the night and no shadowy figure throwing itself into the sand this time.
There was only one thing that ran through his mind when he finally processed everything.
'Down there?!' He internally exclaimed, finding the idea of the time gear being hinted to be under all the quicksand.
"Are you alright? Should I have relieved you sooner?" Levy asked, starting to get worried at Nathan's behaviour. "You can join the others and sleep for the rest of the night now; you're done with your shift."
"I'm fine, thanks, I just… was thinking about things." Nathan slowly answered, avoiding the subject of his vision. He could keep it secret until the morning where everyone would be awake and able to think about it all, and even consider taking the risk of trying to find something under the sand.
"If you say so, but you should get your rest now," Levy said, not completely convinced of Nathan's statement, wanting him to rest sooner rather than later for his own good.
"Right." Nathan agreed, accepting the situation as to quickly get back to his thoughts. Leaving Levy behind where he was just sat, he quickly made his way over to the shared blankets that Wendy, Carla and Lily were stilling using as a bed to join them for whatever warmth there was in the blankets.
The moment he was under the cover of the blankets quickly went back to thinking about what he had just seen. While the whole thing was a major hint to where their goal was there were still other things that stuck out to him, as well as the massive risk that was involved in getting to the lake.
'Like who was that shadowy figure, and why was it daytime? Was that just something to help point me in the right direction? And what about those things I saw on the shore? There were a few of them as well…' Nathan thought to himself as he lay there under the stars trying to find answers to the questions that plagued him. He wasn't able to think for too long however until he went interrupted by Wendy and the exceeds.
Mainly caused by Wendy, the three of them had moved toward him in their sleep, trying to find more warmth than what they currently had, mainly from the fire that was behind Nathan. Before when it had been Levy sleeping with them they were all very much cuddled together but when she had left them, they no longer had anything to cuddle to for warmth. And even when now Nathan had swapped him he knew that things were very clearly different between having him or Levy sleeping with them.
Luckily enough for Nathan, there was little need to worry about it too much since Lily and Carla kept them separated as they slept, even supplying more warmth than Nathan would have thought from them despite knowing they were creatures with fur. Their warmth, paired with the fire and his own fatigue were then enough to eventually lull Nathan off to sleep leaving Levy as the only one awake to watch over them…
When they woke up, however, things were different. No longer was Lily in the way anymore, instead of being on Nathan's other side leaving Carla as the only divider which from her small stature didn't make too much of a divider.
It took the pair of them a few moments to register just how close to one another they were before either one of them reacted. When they did however they immediately sat upright looking at one another as they tried to logically work out what was going on.
"Awake already?" Levy asked with a smile, seemingly pleased with the sight of the two of them yet at the same time disappointed "I thought the two of you would have slept together longer."
"Wait, you're on watch duty, so…" Wendy started working out aloud as things started piecing together for her. "Nathan would have switched in." She finished working out her initial question about the situation, why Nathan was there in place of Levy.
"By why is Lily on the other side of me, when I got in he was between us as well," Nathan asked although remaining careful not to wake up the sleeping exceed.
"He had shifts as well you know, he had to get up and leave and when he did so you all move closer together. Even if we wanted to we couldn't get between you!" Levy answered with a grin that didn't appear to be all too pure, instead, more amused of the two teenagers.
"I wasn't expecting this in the morning…" Nathan mumbled as he slumped back, managing to relax now that he was caught up on everything.
"Mhm…" Wendy agreed with a low hum and a nod as she too relaxed up from her sudden awakening.
"What's bothering you two already?" Carla asked as she woke up between the two, already perplexed by the mood between the two of them.
"We were just surprised Carla, just from being a little sleepy." Wendy quickly answered the exceed as she rubbed what little remaining tiredness still remained in her eyes.
"Really? I hope you haven't been missing any sleep now." Carla said as she got to her feet, beginning to walk out from the covers of the blanket's that were now being mostly held up by Nathan and Wendy's sitting figures. "Well, what are we planning about for today then? Are we continuing just as before or are we thinking about looking around this quicksand for whatever caused them?"
"I think we should save that talk for after Lily has woken up, but do you want breakfast at all? It wouldn't be the best thing to skip out on meals while we're out here but the less we eat the longer we can be out here." Levy replied, already thinking in the long run of the desert.
"I can just eat the sunlight again for food, but I think you will also want to eat this morning. I think I already know just where the time gear is." Nathan spoke up getting everyone's attention in an instant.
"You do!" Wendy said excitedly, "Does that mean you experienced something in the night?"
"It was right as Levy was taking over my shift, it clued me in on where we have to go but I don't think you'll like to hear it, however," Nathan answered further shocking Levy who had no idea that Nathan had worked out such things last night.
"I feel like I know what it is already…" Carla murmured to herself yet was audible enough for the others to hear her.
"If it's something like that then it might be best for us to wake Lily up first and then start talking about it if that's the case," Levy said as she looked the sleeping, black exceed with a worried face for whatever Nathan know knew about their mission.
"If it's something that will require out energy then it would be better for us to have this talk sooner or later, especially before the desert starts heating up rapidly again," Carla said already walking over to Lily completely clear with the intentions of waking him up for their talk.
It didn't take much effort of Carla's part to shake awake the exceed to snapped his eyes open in a flash upon being slightly nudged.
"Is everything alright?" Lily asked immediately as he looked around the place, half expecting there to be something wrong.
"We're just fine, its morning but we need to talk about something soon that it would be better if you were included in this," Carla explained as Lily got up.
"Something important? Plans?" Lily started guessing as he sat upright besides Nathan as Carla retreated back towards Wendy to sit beside her gain.
"Something like that, in short, I know where we need to go but there's something in the way first," Nathan answered.
"Which would be?" Lily enquired.
"Well, what if I told you that the way forward was down there?" Nathan asked as he pointed out the giant quicksand pit that he had almost completely sunk into yesterday.
Everyone remained quiet for a moment as they looked at where Nathan was pointing, half in disbelief, half trying to see anything else he could be referring to. "You mean to say, it's under the quicksand?" Levy finally asked, unable to make out anything else that there was to point at.
"Yup turns out there's a whole cave network down there and in there in a lake with the time gear sat in the middle of it." Nathan nonchalantly answered as if there was nothing amiss about the things he was saying.
"How can you say it like that?!" Carla snapped after hearing the last of Nathan's words, "I knew you were reckless but this is suicidal!"
"How do you even know any of this Nathan?" Levy asked with a worried expression, hoping that there was at least a little shed of logic for them to go off from him. "Are you sure you weren't just dreaming this last night? You did seem like you fell asleep when I woke up."
"It was more like I was in a trance, but I telling you it's the truth! Each time gear his hidden in such a place that no one would find it normally because they are hidden in such extreme, secretive locations that no one would think of such a thing!" Nathan insisted, sure there was sleep deprivation but the whole thing was far too real and he had even seen his necklace glowing as he snapped out of the last of it.
"That much makes sense, but you do know if you're wrong about this then we'll die trying." Levy continued trying to reason with him whilst vowing inwardly to never let Nathan or any young children take night watch if this was the things that it was doing to Nathan.
"Then use me as a test, I'm certain I'm right. I was even mostly sucked into it yesterday and it already felt like it wasn't some ordinary pit of sand." Nathan continued, even if he was beginning to slightly lie, he had never been in quicksand before and therefore didn't have the foggiest clue on how it was supposed to feel.
"What do you mean 'use you as test'?! Even if it's true then how would you signal to us that you've made it? As far as we know you would have just died in the sand!" Carla shouted, hoping that some shred of sense would come back to him. "Wendy, Surely you think this is all crazy talk as well, right." She said, turning to the one person held the most influence on Nathan's actions taking her back some.
"Can't you make some rope with your magic? Just tie it around me and then have Carla and Lilly lower me into the sand, if I give you two tugs on the rope then it means I want to be pulled up but if I give you three or more then it means I've made it, is that good enough for you?" Nathan said.
"And what if we can't pull you up?" Lily added on, not all too confident that he held the strength to be pulling people through quicksand, at least not if someone's life depended on it.
"Then I'll the quicksand away with a blast of magic so you can." Nathan finished with unwavering confidence that no-one was even making it waver in the slightest, complete proof of his determination.
"I'll trust you." Wendy suddenly said, shocking everyone at the camp, especially Nathan and Carla who knew the girl put people's health before almost anything else that she was faced with.
"What are you saying, child?!" Carla exclaimed as she searched Wendy's face but she already held the same determined expressions that Nathan also held, seemingly completely made up her mind to trust in Nathan's words.
"If it does go wrong, with all our magic we still can get him out of their right?" Wendy said as she continued to side with Nathan.
"It's true, it's not like you're telling us to go into this all blindly anymore," Lily mentioned acknowledging the point.
"I guess if your that determined about it and you can make the risk minimal, but what's your reason for trusting Nathan, Wendy?" Levy said with a frown before looking back at Wendy, perplexed by the stand she was taking in the situation.
"I mean it was because of Nathan we found the last one, and I trust him." Wendy weakly answered as she struggled to keep her concentration on Levy. Levy zoned out at the sight slightly after Wendy answered her as she then glanced over to Nathan.
'Just how much do they trust each other already? She does know that if this goes wrong then Nathan could die right?' Levy wondered to herself before she snapped out of her thoughts to talk again.
"Well, if you really think so. I guess we can give it a shot." Levy said with a heavy sigh, conceding to the plea of the two children. Besides, if they were right then they would never find it if they turned away from it now, no to mention how long they would be looking through the desert only to then confirm it was somewhere they had already been.
"Alright! I guess I'll take the plunge then." Nathan said standing up already getting ready to go under the sand as he threw off his coat to the side.
"Nathan!" Wendy quickly called out as he started nearing the quicksand pit drawing his attention.
"Yeah?" he said as he turned back around to look at Wendy who now had a face fresh of concern.
"Please don't push yourself, just in case there really isn't something down there, if you're running out of breath or things are getting dangerous please signal with the rope." She pleaded, her face only showing more and more concern as she spoke, seemingly threatening to turn into tears as the thoughts of Nathan never coming back entered her mind. At the moment she had complete trust with the sound and seriousness of his voice, but with his more laidback mindset suddenly reappearing came with her usual concerns for him.
Nathan silently looked at Wendy as she spoke to him, taking in her expressions and the fact that this was the closest he had seen her to tears. "I promise, I'll be back." He simply answered, his previous seriousness returning to his voice which helped drive the point home for Wendy, earning a content smile from her.
It wasn't long at all for the team to make their preparations to take the plunge into the sand, casting a quick spell Levy easily made some rope for them, in the shape of the word as everything that she made. Tying the rope around Nathan whilst Lily and Carla took the two ends of the rope and flew over the sandpit, ready to act in case anything started going wrong.
"Here goes nothing," Nathan said as he stood at the edge of the pit with Levy and Wendy standing a little bit behind him, anxious for the results of what was going to happen. And without another word he jumped into the centre of the pit and waited for the dunes to consume him completely, making sure to keep access to the air for as long as possible until it no longer was.
Seeing the last of Nathan go under the sand it left the rest of the group with nothing to do but to await any response from the tugging of the rope, hoping that Nathan was right with his vision.
And they waited…
And waited…
And waited…
"He must be forcing himself to stay under as long as possible!" Carla said, coming to her own conclusions as she started to question just how long Nathan was able to stay under the sand, starting to believe that his careless nature was deciding his actions again despite the situation.
"But he promised that he wouldn't!" Wendy said as if the fact changed anything like a solid logical fact.
Before anyone could rebuttal, however, they went interrupted by Lily. "He's made it!" He suddenly exclaimed as he kept his hands on his rope grabbing everyone's attention in an instant.
"He has!" Wendy said joyously as Levy stood in shock.
"Did he tug the rope?" Levy asked earning a nod of confirmation from Lily.
"That means we should join him right?" Wendy asked as she herself inched towards the sandpit, eager to see whatever it kept hidden from the rest of the world.
"Hang on a moment, just because its safe down there does mean we should all suddenly leap in. We need to think of a way to leave first; otherwise, we will be stuck down there without any way to escape. And I don't think that anyone will be coming along and finding us anytime soon." Lily pointed out as he and Carla lowered themselves to Wendy's level, preventing her from getting any closer to the sand.
"But then what will we do then?" Wendy asked, hoping that someone would have an answer for them.
"Well how about this then?" Levy said, walking up to the group after a moment of silence getting the other's attention.
"How long is it going to take them?" Nathan wondered aloud as he stared up at the ceiling where sand steadily dropped from above into the chamber. Where he had ended up was somewhere similar to the place he had seen in his vision from his pendant. While he hadn't just dropped into the lake like he would have hoped for convenience but instead had dropped into what was clearly a cave network that runs underneath the desert.
His questions went answered however upon hearing a sound coming from the ceiling as feet, and then legs broke into view from the sand. Moving over to be more beneath them, ready to catch them from the inevitable fall did he work out who he exactly he was looking at from her smaller stature that in no way could belong to an adult.
With most of her body now dangling, she suddenly fell out of the sand with it being unable to support her weight, falling right into Nathan's arms as he caught her whilst smoothly lowering her to the ground so she nicely touched upon her feet.
"Thank you!" She said as she took her first few steps forward in the cave as she looked about the area she had landed in. And in the next moment, another person fell from the ceiling and also into Nathan's arms.
"Are you alright?" Nathan asked Carla as she coughed a few times in his arms, before proceeding to try and shake off the majority of the sand which covered her fur.
"As well as one can do after being swallowed by a massive sandpit!" she said, almost snapping at Nathan from her mood before she continued to comb through her own hair, much like Wendy was now doing after patting off a majority of the sand which covered her. "But who would have through there would actually be something like this down here, however."
"Where's Lily and Levy?" Nathan asked as he continued looking up, waiting for a sign or either of them to break through the sand.
"They said they would stay up on the surface so there would be someone to pull us up after we are done here, without that we might just be stuck down here!" Carla pointed out, mentioning the plan which Levy had suggested to them. "That you were wearing has now been tied on to an anchor that Levy made."
"So it's just us three exploring this place than for any trace then… Wait, what if they are attacked by the thief? They aren't that strong are they?" Nathan said, remembering their whole purpose for coming out to the desert.
"The plan couldn't be perfect, they said that they would stay out of the way but would follow after them to help us out down here if they came here," Carla added on as she finished with her fur. "What matters to us right now is simply finding and protecting the time gear."
"It can't be much further right?" Wendy said enthusiastically, whilst also being glad for now being away from the burning sun.
"Right, it's just somewhere in these caves, I mean it's close enough to have caused my vision so it might be like when we went through the steam cave to get to fogbound lake. Only it's a lot more pleasant than that place." Nathan said in agreement as he looked at the main gaping entrance to the rest of the cave. "Shall we get going then?"
"Right." Wendy agreed with a nod as she scooped up Carla before making their way into the cave network.
As they walked along, Nathan quickly made a light for the team, despite its limited effectiveness, but it still helped light the way slightly nonetheless as they took peeks at anything and everything trying to find any indicator of what they were searching for.
Meanwhile back on the surface…
"Are you sure there were no other reasons for your decision?" Lily asked as he sat their diligently observing the surroundings in case there was anything for them to spot.
"No, this is the most logical thing for us to do. We have equally distributed our fighting ability between the two places and the most likely two people who can pull the other three us would be us. Why do you ask?" Levy responded, already knowing that Lily was very much on to her and wouldn't be swayed by the logical alone.
"I just was thinking you're starting to take a page from Mira's book." Lily briefly replied with a smirk as he glanced at the solid script mage.
"It was just a coincidence, but I don't think anything will happen though. But it would be exciting if it did help push them along." Levy answered, effectively giving herself up to the black exceed at that point knowing that she was not going to be fooling him.
"So you just can't wait then can you?" Lily summarized.
"Not really, it would be hot news amongst all the girls at the guild through immediately when it happens, however," Levy admitted with a bashful smile, thinking of what the two were currently up to in the underground caves.
"And you think Carla would allow it?" Lily then asked, remembering just how protective the feline could be of her partner.
"Why wouldn't she? I think she already rates Nathan as either the second or third most important person on her life already, even if she doesn't show it I don't think she would interject to them dating." Levy pointed out with confidence. "I just wish we could have more fun with it since Carla is always around them she makes it hard to have any fun with them."
"If you're talking of doing things like last time then that would be too much, it was no wonder Carla was so infuriated with you last time." Lily said with a shake of his head catching Levy's bewildered attention.
"It was just a misunderstanding because of Mira, but how do you know of that? She asked knowing that the exceeds hearing was hardly like any of the dragon slayers.
"Gajeel told me." Lily curtly answered, "He heard everything and mumbled aloud for me to heard as well, wondering just what things were running through your head during the time."
Hearing this Levy simply released a small huff of annoyance whilst blush crept onto her face from wondering just how she might have come across the iron dragon. It was during this moment they failed to notice another approaching figure, however…
Elsewhere in the world, the very same person was busily making his way through a forest with the rest of his assigned team, the lot of them now kept under a very tight leash by their leader. "Have you boys seen anything yet?" Erza asked as she cast her attention around the forest for any clues for their goal.
"Nothing but lots of greenery," Gray answered as they walked along through the woods hoping that they would catch the trail of something at least and soon.
"How about you Gajeel? Do you smell anything?" Erza asked again.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, I don't even know what I'm supposed to be sniffing for anyways. We know we're looking for some fancy gear but who said it was gonna smell like anything." Gajeel complained as he followed along.
"Tell us if you smell anything out of the ordinary at least, it's the one thing only you can do." Erza finished as the continued moving along.
"That reminds me, didn't Master say that Nathan, Wendy and Levy were on their own team because of Nathan having some trick only he could perform? What do you think that was all about?" Gray asked as his thoughts wandered over to the group, the one which had sparked much controversy in the guild, alongside ultimately finishing off Natsu's inner strength in regards to being left behind.
"I don't know much myself, they had already made it all the way to Fogbound Lake by the time I had found them, but it's most likely that they have already had the most success on their search wherever they were sent to," Erza answered, beginning to wonder about just what skill Nathan apparently possessed.
"It must be a pretty manly ability!" Elfman chimed in after having been listening to the conversation.
"But doesn't it make you wonder why he can do it and how?" Gray continued to ask.
"He's a Fairy Tail mage, there's nothing to worry about from him. We should be glad he's with us." Erza spoke up wondering just what Gray was exactly talking about.
"It's not like I doubt him, it's just what if there is something more to this that we are missing out on?" Gray said, "Like you know there are dragon slayers and they have inhuman abilities, what if Nathan and whoever the thief has certain abilities like that?"
"That is true, do you think it's something related to him being a god slayer then?" Erza asked.
"I don't know, I just thought it was strange. It could be." Gray quickly replied not quite knowing about the situation; he was just pulling on straws.
"If that's the case it might be worth asking Lamia scale and Sabertooth for help in finding them, they also have god slayers don't they?" Erza continued. "Once we get back from our search we should ask Nathan in full the nature of his ability, if there are other people who possess it then we should try asking them for help. This is not the situation to remain stubborn on and try to solve it all ourselves."
"What about all that keeping the hunter's low advantage? I thought that was the sole reason for us putting together small teams and leaving immediately. If we're taking on some strong guy I don't want to be sharing the glory with a buncha clowns." Gajeel argued, even now not liking the fact of having to team from the get-go, but they were the master's orders.
"We'll have to weigh the advantages then, but we'll be losing one of them soon enough and when we do it'll become a race against the thief for who can find the next time gear first," Erza said, continuing their long search through the forest already thinking of turning back around to the guild from not having even the slightest trace of their goal anywhere on-site…
After what was starting to feel like hours in the cave did things finally change for Nathan, Wendy and Carla as Wendy suddenly reacted to something Nathan nor Carla could pick up on. "Do you hear that?" Wendy asked getting Nathan to pick up his hearing some more to try and hear whatever Wendy was.
"Nothing, is this something thanks to your dragon hearing again?" He plainly answered as he glanced at her.
"I'm hearing dripping water, do you think there might be a lake nearby like there was at fogbound forest?" Wendy asked in suggestion, wondering if she had just found the hint of the way forward.
"There is a lake down here somewhere; I saw the time gear in it with my vision. Where do you hear the dripping?" Nathan inquired, quickly gaining energy alongside Wendy at the prospect of being so close to their goal.
"It's this way!" Wendy said, pointing in the direction before leading Nathan on in a hurry making it not take long at all for them to get close enough for Nathan and Carla to hear it themselves. Before long they found themselves running upon sand once more as they kept on moving closer and closer to where they were sure their goal was located.
And then, they were there. Stretched out before them was a crystal clear lake that didn't hold even the slightest trace of a ripple along its surface. "It's beautiful!" Wendy said as they walked along the shore of the beach looking out amongst it.
"And the time gear is right there as well, we're beat the thief here!" Nathan said, pointing out the glowing patch of the lake which lay within its centre.
"Mipha did say she had two siblings, didn't she? I was wondering if we would run into one of them here but apparently not." Carla mentioned as she observed the lake for traces of anyone else being only to find none.
"I would have liked to meet them…" Wendy said slowly, slightly disheartened from the situation.
"And it would have been a big help if…" Nathan started to say before being cut out by an unfamiliar voice.
"Who dares trespass here!" The voice boomed suddenly as darkness consumed the area, harshly reducing Wendy's and Carla's field of vision.
Being completely startled by the sudden booming voice it took the group a moment for them to recover themselves but it also took just as long for Nathan to realize something. "Trespass? Does that mean…" He began to talk before he was interrupted again by the same voice, alongside something else.
Without warning a woman burst out of the near-surface of the lake despite the distinct lack of appearance through the see-through water. Her hair was long and pink with plenty of curls in her hair with her eye's a similar pink given them an intense glare of pure rage, not even the slight inclination of kindness existing in the woman. The clothes she wore were perfectly dry despite being completely submerged in water only moments before but not only that but they were also almost identical to the clothes that Mipha also wore, trading out the gold of her clothes for pink instead. And also just like her sister she also possessed a certainly above average rack.
Unlike the last time, Nathan immediately noticed Wendy's spirits sinking at the sight of the woman as she moved one hand straight to her much flatter chest in a solemn mood. 'Does she have a chest complex or something?' Nathan wondered in the moment before he and his thoughts went disturbed by the new appearance.
"I am Lia, the guardian of the underground lake! I heard you mentioned my sister, so you must be the thief's she warned me about!" She quickly declared with furry filling the whole of her voice, seemingly devoid of any chance of reasoning with her.
"No! We met your sister and-" Wendy desperately tried defending against the accusations but Lia was clearly far from listening. Not even allowing Wendy to finish her sentence she launched a wave of destructive energy at the group as a deadly blade forcing them apart as it ran between them before exploding against the nearby wall.
"You met her alright! You met her and beat her up, stealing the time gear as your prize!" Lia quickly further accused not having anything from either of them, "There's no point wasting your breath lying to me! She already told me and Tia via telepathy of what you did!"
"It seems there's no reasoning with her…" Carla mentioned the obvious, knowing full well the only way things were going to turn out. "You best get ready for a fight, and don't hold back! We can't afford to risk whatever she might do if we lose! It might even be a fight to the death for you two!"
"But we can't do that!" Wendy said, reluctant to fight even when she knew that there was going to be nothing else for it.
"Wendy, I'm sorry but we are just going to have to make her listen to us!" Nathan said as he prepared himself for a fight, already seeing the next lot of attacks being prepared by Lia.
In the next moment, Lia unleashed a massive surge of energy from her body that rushed forward flooding the area forcing both Nathan and Wendy back further away from her. "You're both going to have to give it your all if you hope to win if she is as strong as Mipha!" Carla mentioned as Wendy released her from her grasp, facing what was turning out to be inevitable.
"Wave!" Lia shouted as she unleashed another blade of the pale blue magic that she wielded, following it up with seemingly countless more.
"Light gods Apollo!" Nathan yelled as he began his counter attack, unleashing multiple bolts of light aiming to cancel out the oncoming attack only to get a surprise. They didn't even collide, instead, Lia's attacks passed straight through Nathan's causing his attacks to disappear as if they were never even cast at all.
"What happened to your spell?!" Wendy said in alarm as she avoided the attacks the kept assailing them.
"It must be a form of nullification magic, any magic which touches it will be dispelled. She can get rid of your attacks with ease!" Carla shouted, informing the teens of the threat they were up against.
"That's a pain…" Nathan said in a low voice as he nimbly avoided the last of the attacks. "Wendy, do you think you could enchant me? And I mean fully?"
"Huh? Do you mean…" Wendy started to say, hoping that Nathan wasn't asking for what she thought he was asking for.
"We need to fight her with everything, remember how we managed to beat Graygnarl? That wasn't even everything Mipha could throw at us and we just barely beat it, we need to do it now if we are to stand a chance at winning!" he said in a low voice, knowing that admitting to any violence against Mipha would only make the situation much harder for them.
"But…" Wendy started, her voice was completely full of hesitation which was something Nathan was still fully expecting from her.
"That's enough talk!" Lia shouted as she raised her hand into the air as a simple gesture, drawing up a huge amount of water from the lake as she did so causing it to float above her as one massive bubble.
"Alright!" Wendy finally said, knowing that what Nathan was saying was true. With any hope with them being much more used to using that power not only could they win the fight but also do it quickly as well. "Dues Eques! Enchant: Dragon slayer seal!" Wendy chanted quickly before Lia could do anything with the water she had accumulated.
"Wha?" Lia said, letting her shock slip out as she noticed the immediate change of magical power in both Nathan and Wendy as the enchantments settled in. "It won't help you!" she shouted as she threw forth the water she had under her control, making a miniature tidal wave against them that came rushing towards them.
"Sky dragon's roar!" Wendy yelled as she released a blast of wind from her jaw blowing back a majority of the water that was coming for her, picking it up with her wind to make a cyclone to further add to her power.
"Photon edge!" Nathan yelled as he swung his arm, throwing forth a mighty blade of light that cut through the water with ease parting it for him as his attack continued to race towards Lia at an angle from Wendy's own attack.
For only a moment was Lia stunned by the display of power from the two children she was faced with, but only for a moment, despite her moment of shock the attacks still didn't collide with her at all however as she quickly flew into the sky leaving the spells to cause an explosion beneath her. 'The girls an enchantress as well as a wind magic user huh? And that boy's light is black…' Lia thought to herself briefly, trying to work out what she was up against.
"Not bad I guess, but I still don't see how kids like you managed to beat me sister like that, you're still holding something back, aren't you!" Lia said in response to the display as she looked back over at her foes.
"Only a little thing, but we aren't the ones who stole from your sister!" Nathan said as the similar golden light of his dragon god's mode began to coat his arms and legs like usual whilst with a burst of wind Wendy activated her dragon force, making her hair a light pink as wing-like scales began to cover her skin.
'His light has changed, and the way it's acting, just what is he using? And the girl's appearance… How much magic do they even know? Mipha said that they used the exact same magic as her…' Lia though in her confusion before shaking it off, she would get her answers when they lay defeated and she would achieve that no matter what, even if they were just children.
"I'll get the whole truth from you when you lie defeated!" Lia declared again, refusing to listen to a word they were saying.
"She might just be even more stubborn than the pair of you combined…" Carla said dully, not quite able to believe she had just run across someone who was even more stubborn than Wendy and Nathan, even when they were at their worst.
"Fine then," Nathan said as he prepared himself for the continuation of the fight. "Lightspeed flurry!" Nathan chanted as soft light enveloped his body whist Lia remained on guard for whatever the attack would do.
In an instant Nathan immediately shot forward at incredible speed, heading straight for his target earning only the faintest reaction from the guardian, merely only his speed impressing her. Everything else about him was befitting of a child, however.
With a silent wave of her hand, Lia brought forth a wall of the energy from before to act as a divider between her and Nathan before he managed to reach her, causing him to slam right into and inside of is.
"Fool, straightforward attacks won't work you know." Lia calmly stated as she watched Nathan wither in pain from being trapped in her attack.
"Sky dragon's wing attack!" Wendy chanted as she lept into the air hoping to land a hit in from a distance, unleashing twin streams of wind at Lia only for them to be dispelled by the same energy that kept Nathan trapped. Wordlessly Lia raised her palm at Wendy, causing her to be blasted back through the air and almost into the wall until Carla grabbed her in the nick of time-saving her from the collision.
"What is that other magic?" Wendy wondered aloud, knowing there was something else Lia was making use of to attack her in such a way, as well as manipulate the water. "And how can we help Nathan?!" she stressed.
"You can surrender to me and hand over the time gears." Lia calmly suggested, not caring in the slightest for Nathan's struggle at her hand.
"We already told you! We're not thieves!" Nathan yelled as he thought through the pain, successfully managing to get one of his arms outside of the magic which held him.
"What?!" Lia said in shock as she noticed the glowing fist in the corner of her eye as she turned her attention back from Wendy.
"Light dragon god's divine fist!" Nathan yelled, managing to land a strong uppercut before Lia could do anything to stop the attack. Being struck by the fist she was launched further into the air against her will nearly slamming her into the spiked drip rock on the ceiling.
"Sky dragon's roar!" Wendy yelled, trying to seize the presented chance.
"Light dragon gods bellowing roar!" Nathan yelled following his own attack as he fell to the floor, unleashing a massive blast of golden light that seemed to begin to completely cover up Lia against the ceiling as she watched the two oncoming attacks.
"Dome!" she yelled in the last moment defence, covering herself in her magic barely managing to dispel the majority of the attacks, but the short range of the spell wasn't quite enough to avoid all the damage. Both the attacks did more than just strike at Lia, they also struck the cave's ceiling with plenty of force causing to crack and crumble above Lia as a section of the rock hit her in the back and brought her closer to the ground.
It wasn't for long however as Lia regained control her flight as well of that of the boulder, throwing it towards Wendy as the first target she could see. It ultimately missed however as Carla flew out of the way with ease.
"That must have done something to her right? It hit her right in the head!" Wendy said with hope in her voice, not that Lia was showing any signs of weakness just yet.
"Don't think ill give up and lose to a pair of children when the fight's just started!" she yelled in frustration as she further threw out blades of her nullification energy, making for yet more projectiles for them to avoid with responding explosions happening against the wall as they missed their target.
"Lightspeed Furry!" Nathan yelled, further boosting his speed eager to still try and help out in the airborne battle that kept Wendy and Carla playing the defensive, awaiting an opportunity to counter-attack.
The moment the spell was cast Lia was already looking back at him, fully expecting him to come shooting straight into the air for her despite the fact he had no way to control his movement in the air.
Her expectations being only half right, as she made another barrier of wave magic between them again she had no time to react to her shock and Nathan's speed as he flew through the air around her to her back, quickly landing a powerful kick to her back sending her flying, not that he was going to give her the chance of a break.
Immediately he was chasing after her in the air, his body glowing brightly enough one could mistake him as a ball of light instead of an actual person as he raced after her. "Get back!" Lia yelled infuriated by the surprise attack as she threw nearby boulders from the crumbled ceiling at him whist simultaneously prepared a barrier to try and protect herself from him again.
"Light dragon gods dance!" Nathan yelled as he kicked the boulder, shattering it from the two forces, one physical and one intangible, pushing against it from either side causing a cloud of dust to appear that only covered Nathan for a mere moment.
"Sky dragon's claw!" Wendy yelled as she and Carla flew in from above, her fingers covered with powerful winds as she slashed at Lia from where her barrier didn't quite protect her.
Suffering the unexpected blow to the head, Lia's barrier faded as she lost her concentration on the spell once again leaving her exposed. "Light dragon gods divine fist!" Nathan yelled as he rushed in, plunging his fist right into her stomach forcing out all the breath that Lia had winding her, but only for a moment.
"I've had enough!" She declared, shouting out to the whole cave as she threw her arms wide. Nathan and Wendy didn't even have a moment to react as they suddenly felt a strong force acting on them which instantly forced them down to the ground with a thud as they were helpless to resist.
"What is this? Gravity magic?" Nathan groaned as he desperately tried pushing himself off of the ground only to fall to the ground again.
"I see why you would think that but it's not, its telekinesis I'm using to pin you down. And I'll be crushing you with it until you hand over the time gears and do everything else I want from you!" Lia answered as she increased the intensity of her magic, beginning to push Nathan, Wendy and Carla right into the ground that they started to sink into the sand of the beach.
"Please! We don't have any time gears! We came here to try and protect the time gear from the real thief!" Wendy pleaded in desperation, trying to keep the sand out of her mouth as she sunk into the sand more and more as an enormous weight kept crashing down on her.
"It hardly sounded like it! And you even attacked me! The real guardian!" Lia shouted in her anger as she focused the pressure on Wendy more.
"Leave her alone! We're only defending ourselves since YOU attacked US!" Nathan shouted out in anger as he tried pushing himself back up with what strength he could muster.
"You're not in the position to be arguing the absurd you know! You should never have come here in the first place, and you should have never messed with my sister either!" Lia said in infuriation, not weakening the force that kept Wendy in agony as she even refused to spare a glance at Nathan.
"Are you sure we're so helpless?" Nathan challenged confusion Lia, getting her to spin around to see whatever Nathan was referring to only to be face to face with a glowing orb of light that floated right before her face. And it was only then she realized she was surrounded by them.
She only had enough time to widen her eyes in shock before the floating lights around her all blew up, consuming Lia with the explosions of bright light. The moment the spell had been set off, Nathan, Wendy and Carla immediately felt the sweet relief of the crushing force that kept them all pinned wear off as they forced themselves to stand upright, ready to face Lia with whatever she had next for them.
"Her magic wore off… Is she beat?" Carla asked as they looked at the dust cloud wearily as it began to settle down.
"I think she's still standing though…" Nathan said as he peered into the dust cloud, trying to better understand the situation. His voice went answered as a blade of wave magic suddenly came rushing towards him forcing him to dodge as it went by cutting through the sand before colliding with the cave wall.
"That hardly had the accuracy from before," Carla noted as they looked back at Lia to see what had become of her, only to see her desperately shielding her eyes whilst rubbing them even when the sand clouds around her had begun to settle down.
"What's wrong with her?" Wendy mumbled unable to think about just what could be troubling Lia, her voice too going answered by another blade of magic that came rushing for her neck, but it still wasn't fast enough to land as Wendy easily ducked under the attack with ease.
"Is she blinded?" Carla guessed only for a massive sandpit suddenly form beneath her as it then tried to consume her, something Carla could easily evade by taking to the air once again.
"I mean she did just take on my photon radiance at point-blank range to the face, she's properly never had so much light while living down here in this cave." Nathan pointed out, irritating Lia as she heard their correct deductions.
"How did you cast it?! Magic requires focus, to direct it and some even require poses to best use it! You were completely pinned down and yet you could still expel magic from somewhere?!" Lia shouted as she desperately tried to sense out the locations of her foes despite the pain in her eyes and messed up vison.
"It's an advantage that slayer magic's possessed. As a god slayer and a dragon slayer, we can expel magic from any part of our bodies with ease, unlike other magic. Its why punching you with it and using it with any martial prowess is actually effective with our magic." Nathan explained as he loosened up, struggling to believe that Lia was much of a threat anymore with her vision at least temporally robbed from her.
"Slayers? But that's lost magic! How do two children have that?! And on top of everything else you know?" Lia said, completely dumfounded from everything that she now knew.
"Everything else? I only know my sky dragon magic, and Nathan only has his light god slayer magic and boost magic. We don't know any other magic." Wendy quietly said, hoping to make some more peaceful progress with Lia.
"Don't lie to me, you bested my sister with her own magic!" Lia shouted out as she turned to face Wendy, or at least where she through Wendy was.
"That's just the real thief!" Wendy said hoping to finally get through to the lake guardian. "Please, can we just talk this out?"
"I've already made up my mind! And what I said won't change!" Lia yelled as she lifted her hands to the sky, causing a rumbling beneath Nathan's and Wendy's feet as the sand began rising up from beneath them like a geyser trying to throw them into the air.
"Sky dragon's aegis!" Wendy chanted as she formed a protective dome of wind around herself and Nathan, shielding them from the effects of the sand.
"We can just get this over with quickly right? While she's still blinded." Nathan said as Wendy nodded in confirmation. "Boost magic: Power!" Nathan quickly chanted as Wendy released her spell, blowing back everything in the area as they prepared for their final rush.
"Sky dragon's impact!" Wendy said as she blasted off straight for Lia, using her winds to propel her forward as she flew through the air, winds whirling around her whole arm as she landed a clean punch on Lia before launching her far into the air with a burst of wind from her small fist.
"Light dragon gods…" Nathan started as he managed to leap above Lia's figure, kicking her back down to the ground as he prepared one more attack that they hoped would be the end of the fight. "Bellowing roar!" he yelled as he unleashed an almighty blast of golden light from his jaw down upon Lia.
The attack didn't connect, however, as Lia desperately held off the attack with a barrier made from her wave magic causing the oncoming attack to fade away into a harmless nothingness as it kept coming in contact with the barrier. But despite this, Lia was clearly struggling to keep on dispelling such huge amounts of magic so quickly with her rushed spell.
It didn't stop her from pushing the barrier up and towards Nathan however, confident that it would collide if she could push it up just enough, even with her just returning vision.
Seeing that Nathan was losing the clash Wendy did the last of what she could for him in the moment, "Sky dragon's roar!" Wendy cried as she unleashed her own roar attack at Lia's back, using up all the power she could to try and throw the guardian off of her defensive assault.
The reaction was a positive one as Lia clearly felt the blow of the attack causing her to twitch at the sudden unexpected pain, costing her some of her focus on her spell giving Nathan the advantage in their clash as she struggled to hold off his attack.
Seeing that they were almost there, Wendy grit herself as she dug for whatever power she could find within herself desperately channelling her power towards the enchantments that she was still maintaining giving one last surge of power to herself and Nathan.
The pair of them seizing the moment they both recognized to be the best chance they would ever get to end the fight they put in the last surge of power they got from the enchantments in a last-ditch effort, finally pushing right down on Lia.
In the last few moments she had, Lia finally regained her vision from being blinded but it was already too late for her to do anything with her regained site. All they did was allow for her to see the attacks that came in collision with her with a mighty explosion that managed to knock her out cold…
Slowly Lia felt her senses come back to her as she lay down, the world black to her as her eye's remained closed. 'What happened…' Lia through to herself, feeling the sense of pain fill her body as she began to feel everything that touched her again.
The sense of the sand that was beneath her, the sound of the waves of the lake as the crashed upon the shore and the soft warmth that filled her body, soothing her from the pain that the two thieves had caused…
It was at that thought did she suddenly bolt upright, her eye's snapping open as she did so immediately taking in her surroundings.
Taken back in pure shock from the sudden reaction, Wendy fell back on her butt stopping her attempts of healing as well as alerting Nathan and Carla to the change in the situation. "Are you alright child?" Carla asked as she rushed to Wendy's side, casting a quick glance towards the awoken guardian.
"I'm fine, Carla. But how do you feel?" Wendy said with a small smile before turning back to Lia who held a face of complete bewilderment and shock as she stared down at Wendy in utter disbelief.
"You! Why are you helping me!?" She asked as she backed away from Wendy to the best of her ability, which was more scrambling back with clear effort, unable to even stand on her feet with her current lack of strength.
"Multiple reasons, mainly kindness I guess," Nathan answered for them as he stood beside Wendy as she went back to kneeling.
"Please don't move too much, I haven't managed to heal you that much. I'm still recovering myself even." Wendy said with her usual kind voice that didn't hold even a shred of anything that could be preserved as malic, her voice and words only furthering Lia's bewilderment.
"We're enemies, why would you help me and not take the time gear?" Lia asked cautiously as she tried to strum together any form of logic of why they would have helped her. "You just want me to reveal the location of other time gears, don't you! Too bad for you that I don't know any of the locations, and nor would I ever reveal them to the likes of you!" she guessed, spitting the words out with spite.
"As handy as that would be to know where else might need to be protected, that's no at all why we helped you," Nathan said nonchalantly as he looked down at Lia with a bland expression. "We just wanted to talk and explain everything, I'd be better for both of us if you understood the whole situation."
"You're still trying to insist with your lies? I won't listen to anything that you say so you may as well save it." Lia huffed as she turned away from the teens, clearly growing tired with them insisting their 'lies'.
"If they were lies and we really were the thieves after the time gear then why haven't we taken it already?" Carla challenged, confident that the question would force the lake guardian to reconsider her mentality.
"Because you did hope to make me spoil information about the next gear, and then you would take this time gear and leave me to be frozen in time!" Lia answered with a scowl, not allowing her to be tricked so easily by mere kids and their pet cat.
"You've got an answer for everything don't you!?" Carla yelled in frustration, unable to tolerate just how much Lia was willing to cling to her delusions.
"You can communicate with Mipha right? I'm not sure she would be awake by now but you can try contacting her and asking her about us. She'll explain how you're mistaken." Nathan said getting Lia to grit her teeth in frustration.
"I already have, and she's still not awake! What did you do to her!?" She shouted, clearly not at all letting her resentment go.
"We gave her treatment and a bed…" Nathan plainly answered, entirely unfazed by Lia's hostility as he calmly sat down besides Wendy and Carla.
"Please! We're really not here to take the time gear! What did Mipha mention to you about the thief, or about anyone one else who visited her?" Wendy pleaded as she kept looking at Lia in the eyes, her calm kind and peaceful eyes peering into the cold, furious one's which Lia possessed.
"She must have said that there was only one thief called Zabost, didn't she? Don't you find it strange that there are three of us?" Carla added on, furthering the evidence of their innocence.
"I'm told there is a thief on the loose for time gears, and then I'm later told that Mipha lost her time gear and now you three appear and conveniently know so much about Mipha and time gears! How am I supposed to trust you in the slightest! If you're not the thieves then who is?!" Lia said through gritted teeth as she tried struggling to move a little more.
"That would probably be… me." A voice suddenly said, snatching everyone's attention, getting them to immediately look at the newcomer with complete shock.
Walking into the cave was a lean, serious-looking man, a black cape with its hood lower covered the majority of his body leaving his face exposed. There was a scar under his right eye, with dark brown pupils and hair that looked almost black in the dim lighting of the cave. His face was seemingly devoid of expression as he looked down at the weakened people who were sat before him further along the beach sitting between him and his goal all whilst glaring daggers at him.
Although it was very much their first time laying eye's on the man, the team already knew perfectly full well who they were currently dealing with.
"Who are you?!" Lia shouted as she forced herself onto her feet, making the feeble attempt to serve as a barrier between the intruder and the time gear that sat at the lakebed.
"I believe I've already heard my name coming from one of you down here already." The man blandly answered, not even the faintest trace of even signs of his face loosening up from the serious expression he wore. Despite the clear advantage he seemed to be at, he still seemingly was giving it all his complete focus and attention.
"So you're Zabost then! You attacked Mipha!" Wendy said, putting the name to the man as she stood up with Nathan to prepare for the fight.
"I am, I had no quarrel with that woman but I needed that time gear and she stood in my way. She had it coming then." Zabost calmly answered the calmness of his voice despite the topic of which he was talking about not only made him seemingly not care in the slightest for his actions but also managed to send a slight shiver up the girl's back.
"And I apologies, but I shall be taking this time gear as well," Zabost added on before making a sudden lunge towards Nathan and Wendy, cutting between the two and punching them in the stomach with ease sending them flying across the beach in opposing directions.
"Stand aside." Zabost calmly ordered Lia who remained standing shakily in his past, not wavering or hesitating for a moment with her answer.
"I… I won't!" Lia said, forcing the words out against the fatigue of her body. "I won't let you take the time gear!"
"I have no choice then." Zabost calmly said as he looked at Lia with unwavering eyes. Within an instant he swung a fist right at Lia, striking her in the side of the head sending her crashing to the ground helpless and without strength to resist him in the slightest.
"You lost that fight you had before. You sustained serious damage, so don't push it." He calmly stated as he looked down at Lia who lay on the ground, her eyes barely open but filled with rage as she looked up at Zabost's calm expression.
Breaking from the silent yet intense eye contact, he once again started walking towards the lake with no-one standing in his way. "We won't allow it!" Wendy cried as she and Nathan lunged at Zabost from either side.
With wind coated arm Wendy clawed at Zabost's head whilst Nathan swung a glowing kick of blacklight towards his back, only for Zabost to dodge both attacks with ease as he ducked under them, allowing for both of the teenagers to land side by side before him, separating him from the lake which was just behind them.
"All right…" Zabost calmly replied, "Sorry for this." He said before striking at the teens before they had any idea about what had happened, his body giving off the same familiar glow that Nathan posed with his spells. With one clean sweep of the leg, he caught them both and kicked them into the distant wall causing them to slump to the ground leaning on one another unable to move from being completely winded by the attack.
"Wendy! Nathan!" Carla cried out in shock as she remained helpless but to watch, rushing over to the pair to help them in any way she was capable of helping them.
"He's so fast…" Nathan groaned as he tried to support himself and Wendy, "He's magic felt just like mine then, but he's supposed to use Mipha's magic…"
"Forgive me, I have no quarrel with any of you, but I'm taking that time gear!" He declared once more before he plunged into the lake with no hesitation, his eyes fixed on his goal leaving the beaten bodies of his 'foes' behind him.
'That must have been what I saw in the vision… those objects on the beach was us.' Nathan thought to himself as he tried sitting upright with Wendy, with little help from Carla who was worriedly beside them.
"He's taking the time gear…" Wendy mumbled as she sat down, peering into the lake at the shadow that was quickly moving towards the shimmering emerald light that emitted from the centre of the lake.
"I'm sorry… It seems you really were telling the truth the whole time. He was the one that Mipha must have been talking about. I'm sorry for not listening…" Lia apologized as she moved her head to look out to the lake, unable to do anything more than look out at the lake with complete frustration of the things that had occurred because of her mistakes.
"It's fine, it's the past but we need to stop-"Nathan began to reply before his voice was cut short by sudden trembling from the cave bringing everyone to alert.
"This is bad! We need to get out of here!" Lia suddenly exclaimed, needing no time to understand what was going on.
"Why?! What about Zabost?!" Wendy frantically asked as she and Nathan scrambled to their feet, using up whatever strength they could find in themselves to do so despite their wounded states.
"Just look!" Lia shouted back with a pointed finger as she struggled to her knees, fighting against her own body and pain that she felt from her recent breakdowns with the sheer desperation of knowing that there was no other option.
Looking right where she was pointing lead to a cause of shock for the team as they struggled to completely comprehend just what they were witnessing. Wild sparks of blue lightning were racing across the walls of the cave towards the group, not slowing down in the slightest as everything that it passed over turned to a dark grey. Even the water that went touched by it turned a harsh grey as all movement and life seemed to be drained from it, leaving it frozen perfectly in place and shape.
"W-What's happening?!" Carla exclaimed as they looked at the phenomenon in horror, the site bringing an endless feeling of dread to them as they saw it.
"It's happening because the thief took the time gear! Because of it, time in the area all around the underground lake will come to a complete standstill!" Lia quickly explained as she somehow managed to get to her feet.
"What?! But can't we do anything? What about Zabost! Won't he be frozen with the time gear?" Wendy asked in her panicking state, doing her best to fight down the fear that she was feeling from the disastrous events.
"The gear he just stole will protect him! All we can do now is run! Run with all your might or you'll be trapped in frozen time!" Lia answered as she already made her own attempts to escape the lakeside, slowly limping towards the caves that lead to the way out.
"Come on Wendy! Carla, do you think you can assist Lia?" Nathan shouted as he quickly took one of Wendy's shaking hands, pulling her along and snapping her out of her fearful observations of the lake.
"Right!" Carla instantly agreed as she rushed over to the limping guardian, grabbing a hold of her back and lifting her through the cave with the help of her wings, leading the way forth while Nathan and Wendy did their best to follow behind, not looking back at the cave leaving to its fate…
Right hope you enjoyed this chapter as well, ill be onto the next!
Reviews:
Midnight423: Glad to hear it, I hope you enjoy this one too!
Bungster: Great, relieving to hear that people are liking the relationship thus far, hope you enjoyed this next chapter and soon enough we'll be getting to your inputs as well, hope i manage to do them a good job when it comes to it!
Amanny: Happy to hear your liking their relationship as well! It greatly pleases me that they are coming off as a cute pair to others as well!